“I am not a person of opinions because I feel the counter arguments too strongly.”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797–1851) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer
Source: The Journals of Mary Shelley
Quotes about opinion page 6
Franz Wright (1953–2015) American poet
Source: Walking to Martha's Vineyard
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
Opinion on the Constitutionality of the Bill for Establishing a National Bank., 1791. http://www.yamaguchy.netfirms.com/7897401/jefferson/natbank.html ME 3:146 <br class="br">Posthumous publications, On financial matters
Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author
Source: Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
“Our own heart, and not other men's opinions, forms our true honor.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher
“Popular opinion is the greatest lie in the world.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
Letter to Morris Raphael Cohen, professor emeritus of philosophy at the College of the City of New York, defending the appointment of Bertrand Russell to a teaching position (19 March 1940).
1940s
Variant: Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence and fulfills the duty to express the results of his thoughts in clear form.
Eric Hoffer (1898–1983) American philosopher
Source: The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
Kresley Cole American writer
Source: Dreams of a Dark Warrior
“The greater their ignorance, the stronger their opinions.”
Ken Follett book Edge of Eternity
Source: Edge of Eternity
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel book Elements of the Philosophy of Right
Sect. 318, as translated by T. M. Knox, (1952)
Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820/1821)
“Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Source: Walden and Other Writings
John Stuart Mill book On Liberty
Source: On Liberty (1859), Ch. II: Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion
Patrick Lencioni (1965) American writer
Source: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
“Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired…”
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet
Letter to a Young Clergyman (January 9, 1720), on proving Christianity to unbelievers
“In my opinion, there's no condition in life that can't be ameliorated by a dose of junk food.”
Sue Grafton (1940–2017) American writer
Source: Q is for Quarry
“Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion.”
Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress
http://www.theinsider.com/news/1130430_Madonna_50_Years_Of_Wit_And_Wisdom.
“My father has a high opinion of his opinion”
Chelsea Handler book Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
Source: Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
René Descartes (1596–1650) French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
Source: Discourse on Method
“I am crushed by your poor opinion
But will endeavor to carry on.”
Jayne Ann Krentz (1948) American novelist
Source: Second Sight
“Are you smarter than a pig, Locke?”
“On occasion,” said Locke. “There are contrary opinions.”
Scott Lynch book The Republic of Thieves
Source: The Republic of Thieves
“Absurdity, n. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.”
Ambrose Bierce book The Devil's Dictionary
The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
“As of now, ALL your opinions are rejected."
- Ichigo”
Tite Kubo (1977) Japanese manga artist
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (1960) Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader and risk analyst
Source: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) English mystery and detective writer
Part III: Growing Up, §II
Source: An Autobiography (1977)
“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”
Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist
Laura Ruby American writer
Source: Bone Gap
“A woman with opinions had better develop a thick skin and a loud voice.”
Anya Seton book The Winthrop Woman
Source: The Winthrop Woman
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet
Thoughts on Various Subjects from Miscellanies (1711-1726)
“People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson book The Conduct of Life
The Conduct of Life, Chapter 6, “Worship,” p. 214
1860s, The Conduct of Life (1860)
“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.”
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) French poet, novelist, and dramatist
"Thoughts," Postscriptum de ma vie, in Victor Hugo's Intellectual Autobiography, Funk and Wagnalls (1907) as translated by Lorenzo O'Rourke
Source: Intellectual Autobiography: Ideas on Literature, Philosophy and Religion
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
1800s, First Inaugural Address (1801)
Source: The Inaugural Speeches and Messages of Thomas Jefferson, Esq.: Late President of the United States: Together with the Inaugural Speech of James Madison, Esq. ...
Source: The Sportswriter (1986), p. 104
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America
As quoted in The Life and Writings of Thomas Jefferson : Including All of His Important Utterances on Public Questions (1900) by Samuel E. Forman, p. 429
Posthumous publications
“Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem—in my opinion—to characterize our age.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
"The Common Language of Science", a broadcast for Science, Conference, London, 28 September 1941. Published in Advancement of Science, London, Vol. 2, No. 5. Reprinted in Ideas and Opinions (1954), the quote appearing on this page http://books.google.com/books?id=OeUoXHoAJMsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PT357#v=onepage&q&f=false. <br class="br">1940s
Leslie Stephen (1832–1904) British author, literary critic, and first editor of the Dictionary of National Biography
The Nineteenth Century, vol. 13 (1883) p. 665
Gustav Stresemann (1878–1929) German politician, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
1910s, Speech in the Reichstag, 18 March 1918
“We speak of the matter [of this science] in the sense of its being what the science is about. This is called by some the subject of the science, but more properly it should be called its object, just as we say of a virtue that what it is about is its object, not its subject. As for the object of the science in this sense, we have indicated above that this science is about the transcendentals. And it was shown to be about the highest causes. But there are various opinions about which of these ought to be considered its proper object or subject. Therefor, we inquire about the first. Is the proper subject of metaphysics being as being, as Avicenna claims, or God and the Intelligences, as the Commentator, Averroes, assumes.”
loquimur de materia "circa quam" est scientia, quae dicitur a quibusdam subiectum scientiae, uel magis proprie obiectum, sicut et illud circa quod est uirtus dicitur obiectum uirtutis proprie, non subiectum. De isto autem obiecto huius scientiae ostensum est prius quod haec scientia est circa transcendentia; ostensum est autem quod est circa altissimas causas. Quod autem istorum debeat poni proprium eius obiectum, uariae sunt opiniones. Ideo de hoc quaeritur primo utrum proprium subiectum metaphysicae sit ens in quantum ens (sicut posuit Auicenna) uel Deus et Intelligentiae (sicut posuit Commentator Auerroes.)
Duns Scotus (1265–1308) Scottish Franciscan friar, philosopher and Catholic blessed
Quaestiones subtilissimae de metaphysicam Aristotelis, as translated in: William A. Frank, Allan Bernard Wolter (1995) Duns Scotus, metaphysician. p. 20-21
Sarah Palin (1964) American politician
[Alex Johnson, Palin fires back at media, ‘Washington elite’, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26525268/, MSNBC, 2008-09-04, 2008-09-04]
2008, 2008 Republican National Convention
Charles Perrow (1925–2019) American sociologist
Source: 1970s, Organizational Analysis: A Sociological View, 1970, p. 34
Salma Hayek (1966) Mexican-American actress and producer
For these women, no contract equals no validation — and, thus, no reason for existing.
O interview (2003)
Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) 18th President of the United States
1870s, Seventh State of the Union Address (1875)
Context: I am happy to announce the passage of an act by the General Cortes of Portugal, proclaimed since the adjournment of Congress, for the abolition of servitude in the Portuguese colonies. It is to be hoped that such legislation may be another step toward the great consummation to be reached, when no man shall be permitted, directly or indirectly, under any guise, excuse, or form of law, to hold his fellow-man in bondage. I am of opinion also that it is the duty of the United States, as contributing toward that end, and required by the spirit of the age in which we live, to provide by suitable legislation that no citizen of the United States shall hold slaves as property in any other country or be interested therein.
Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America
Source: Democracy in America, Volume I (1835), Chapter XV-IXX, Chapter XVII.
Arthur Schopenhauer book The World as Will and Representation
:s:The World as Will and Representation/Preface to the First Edition <br class="br">Kants Philosophie also ist die einzige, mit welcher eine gründliche Bekanntschaft bei dem hier Vorzutragenden gradezu vorausgesetzt wird. — Wenn aber überdies noch der Leser in der Schule des göttlichen Platon geweilt hat; so wird er um so besser vorbereitet und empfänglicher seyn mich zu hören. Ist er aber gar noch der Wohllhat der Veda's theilhaft geworden, deren uns durch die Upanischaden eröfneter Zugang, in meinen Augen, der größte Vorzug ist, den dieses noch junge Jahrhundert vor den früheren aufzuweisen hat, indem ich vermuthe, daß der Einfluß der Samskrit-Litteratur nicht weniger tief eingreifen wird, als im 14ten Jahrhundert die Wiederbelebung der Griechischen: hat also, sage ich, der Leser auch schon die Weihe uralter Indischer Weisheit empfangen und empfänglich aufgenommen; dann ist er auf das allerbeste bereitet zu hören, was ich ihm vorzutragen habe. Ihn wird es dann nicht, wie manchen Andern fremd, ja feindlich ansprechen; da ich, wenn es nicht zu stolz klänge, behaupten möchte, daß jeder von den einzelnen und abgerissenen Aussprüchen, welche die Upanischaden ausmachen, sich als Folgesatz aus dem von mir mitzutheilenden Gedanken ableiten ließe, obgleich keineswegs auch umgekehrt dieser schon dort zu finden ist. <br class="br">Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. Leipzig 1819. Vorrede. pp.XII-XIII books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=0HsPAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR12 <br class="br">The World as Will and Representation (1819; 1844; 1859)